Target IAS

OXYTOCIN or LOVE HORMONES

Oxytocin is a hormone secreted by Pituitary Gland.

Often called the ‘love hormone’, oxytocin is released naturally in human bonding activities such as sex, childbirth and breastfeeding.

• It plays a role in reproduction,child birth and lactation, apart from social interaction.
• It is used for both human and animals, to accelerate normal labour.
• It is supposed to act directly on the uterus to induce rhythmic contractions.
• In certain animals,especially farm animals, it is used to achieve 'milk let down'. 
• oxytocyn is believed to stimulate the mammary gland and induce milk production in farm animals,provided the udder is prepared to do so. 

The Union government banned imports of the hormone oxytocin to stop its misuse in the livestock industry, where activists say it causes hormonal imbalances , makes them barren and shortens the lives of milch animals.
 

The government has decided to rely on domestic production to satisfy requirements of the hormone.

India halted retail sales of the prescription­only drug in 2014, but regulators have struggled to curb
illegal sales, and the volume of imports is unclear

Ban follows an order by the drugs regulator last year for officials to clamp down on factories that produce the hormone in bulk despite not meeting manufacturing standards.
A panel of top drug experts had recommended an import ban in February 2018, the minutes of their meeting, posted on the drug regulator’s website,show.
 

It also recommended that sale be limited to registered government hospitals and clinics, a bar code system used on all forms of the drug to ensure tracking and prevent abuse.